Rosenthal’s Latest: Johnson, Peavy, Dempster

It doesn’t seem likely that Randy Johnson re-signs with the Diamondbacks, though Johnson is holding out filing for free agency until the possibility is exhausted. The D’Backs hope he will take a significant hometown discount; they have roughly $10MM to spend for Johnson and a second baseman. If a Mark Loretta type takes $2MM, will Johnson take $8MM after earning $15.1MM for a fine ’08 season?

The Braves are frustrated with the progress on the Jake Peavy talks, and will explore other options (especially once the free agent market opens Friday). Rosenthal says the Padres sent revised proposals to the Cubs and Braves yesterday, but those teams intend to stick with their offers. Will the Padres crack and make a deal before Friday?

Rosenthal criticizes the Padres for the classless farewell to Trevor Hoffman. They pulled their reduced offer, and didn’t agree to the meeting with ownership he requested.

Suddenly there may be more solid free agent closers than teams seeking one. The Mets have their pick. To me this is a sign that K-Rod will fall short of five years, $75MM.

Rosenthal believes Kevin Gregg is next up on the trading block for the Marlins, with Jeremy Hermida another possibility.

Casey Blake doesn’t have any geographic leanings regarding his next destination. His agent feels a three-year deal is reasonable. The Twins and Indians are among seven teams eyeing Blake.

The Cubs offered Ryan Dempster something in the range of Kyle Lohse‘s four years, $41MM. Teams don’t like to use the Carlos Silva deal as a benchmark, because it was such a clear mistake.